Dubai Design Week announces five new commissions for Abwab 2026
A seven-metre installation featuring red light and a structure inspired by the coded instructions used by Kashmiri weavers are among five new commissions announced for Dubai Design Week’s Abwab programme. Abwab , which means doors in Arabic, commissions new work by practitioners from across Asia and Africa. Dalia Rafeh, Grace Shieh, Kanaka Raghavan, Ubik and architecture and research practice…
Dubai Design Week’s Abwab programme has announced five new commissions for its 2026 edition. The installations, which form part of the festival's 12th iteration, will be displayed at Dubai Design District from November 3 to 8. Commissioned by practitioners from Asia and Africa, the works explore communication through various materials and forms.
The installations include a seven-metre structure inspired by Kashmiri weaving traditions, using red light and visual language of public signage to communicate quiet. Another work, Cheent Devanagari, challenges the universal treatment of Latin typography by using Devanagari's structural and material traditions.
Dubai-based architecture and research practice Varussi, founded by Owais Asif Khan and Samreen Junaid Wani, translates traditional Kashmiri carpet coding into an architectural structure that visitors can enter. The exhibition’s layout allows visitors to move between, through, and above the commissions, with free entry and curator-led walkthroughs exploring the research, materials, and processes behind the works.
Written by urgent.news from The National UAE's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
Also reported by 1 other outlet
- Dubai Design Week announces five new commissions for Abwab 2026 thenationalnews.com
